Bluefin Tuna




Abiotic factors

Sun light-Zone
- Water-660 feet, the temperature in this zone ranges from 104 to 27 degrees F.
- Photosynthesis can take place. 90% of the marine life lives in this zone including the blue fin tuna.
- Murky water sunlight zone: only goes about 50ft deep
- Clear water sunlight zone: 660ft
- There is enough light in this zone that photosynthesis can take place. The photosynthesis in the ocean makes up 90% of the Earths oxygen.
- Warmest, and richest place in nutrients (perfect for growth) the phytoplankton makes up to 50% of the oxygen in the world!




Biotic Factors
Animals:
Blue fin Tuna: Mackerel, medium sized fish, squids, eel, herring, anchovies, crustaceans, sometimes kelp, and occasionally starfish, Can reach up to70-100 km. /hr. when chasing prey.
Atlantic Hagfish (ocean floor): fish
Atlantic salmon: Crustaceans
Basking Shark: Plankton
Greenland Halibut: fish, squid, and crustaceans
Lantern Fish: Plankton
Skate: fish
Spiny Eel: Marine Invertebrates
Black-legged Kittiwake: fish and crustaceans
Animals that eat the blue fin tuna: sharks, killer and pilot whales, and humans. Most tuna stand a 1 to 40 million chance of reaching adult hood; and can reach 3 meters in length.
Plants and other producers:
Free-floating algae (seaweed)
Red algae
Green algae
Brown algae
Phytoplankton



Food web




Importance

Three fourths of the earth is covered in water. The importance of all the lakes and rivers and oceans is clear, yet we still continue to pollute and over fish them. We use the ocean for more than just a vacation from school during summer; humans have used the sea as a food source since pre-historic times. But if we continue with our over fishing and polluting then we’ll have no fish and no place to get away to.
Many animals are going extinct as we all know and one in particular tuna is especially close. The Blue fin tuna is important by being one of the top predators in the ecosystem. If the Blue fin tuna become extinct things ranging from fishermen losing their job to possible over population of other animals that are eaten by the Blue fin tuna. If it did become extinct we wouldn’t have any to eat as sushi! Who (besides vegetarians) can live in a world without sushi? The salmon; which the Blue fin tuna is a predator of, could over populate even more with one of its main eaters gone. Due to no Blue fin tuna left some of its predators could become endangered. The loss of this aquatic animal will definitely affect fisheries that are dependable upon the blue fin. Fisherman would lose their jobs adding to the already threatening economic problems plaguing the globe.

The ocean in general is important by not only the things above, but just in its self. It supplies a home to some of the most amazing animals on Earth and even supplies the human race with salt. Businesses throughout the world use it to trade, sell, and deliver whatever it is they have. It inspires little children to ask questions that we still don’t know today and to want to find new places. We need the ocean no matter what people say.
Threats
The main threat to the Blue Fin Tuna is Over-Fishing. The demand for fresh fish in homes and restaurants (sushi, cooked and salted, ect.) everywhere around the world is climbing faster by the second in a time where many well known fisheries are becoming exhausted of their supplies. To meet the demand, fishing boats are working their way into parts of the ocean no one would think of venturing before, being guided by high-tech devices that include technologies used for the Cold War. I doubt the Blue Fin Tuna will last long with these odds.

Conservation plan

Our conservation plan is to make a hatchery on a ‘no take’ zone. A hatchery (place where you raise and then release the blue fin tuna) will be placed in a large ‘no take zone’ (Area where there is no fishing, no taking items/animals, or polluting of the area); as an added measure there will be patrols on the ‘no take’ zone to prevent Poachers from fishing the blue finned tuna. The hatchery will also have an area ideal for blue fin tuna to breed and such. The hatchery will also have ‘state-of-the-art’ scientist’s that will select the healthiest breeding groups and then breed and raise blue fin tuna till they can be released into the wild (this will also provide more jobs for people in our dwindling economy). In this large ‘no take zone’ the area will also have an ideal breeding area for WILD blue fin tuna as well. This plan will also benefit fisheries because the tuna will be more plentiful and spread outside the ‘no take’ zone so that the blue fin tuna will no longer be endangered and both sides are satisfied.



PHOTOSTORY






Atribution
Image: 'Atún'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/17364971@N00/67077546
Image: '
Atún'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/17364971@N00/67077546
Hello World!'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21932 201@N04/3037075741
Original image: 'Holy Mackerel'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/18584956@N03/4421234339
Original image: 'Salmon at the underwater dome at The Seattle Aquarium'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/62967061@N00/203572652
by: Melissa Doroquez
Original image: '
Kelp forest'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51035677132@N01/408470
by: Damien du Toit
Original image: '
Warm Furry Blanket'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124348109@N01/229803017
by: Steve Jurvetson
Original image: '
Discosphaera tubifera'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8531408@N04/532869062
Original image: '
UNA ESTRELLA VERDE'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25898159@N07/2457954868
by: Antonio Guillén